#BestEdTech Award Nominations

The Lancaster City School District is the Place to Be Innovative

I feel honored to have been nominated by several people in my district to receive #BestEdTech awards at the State of Ohio Educational Technology Conference in Columbus, Ohio Jan. 27-29, 2013.  I have been nominated as the Ed Leader Innovator and as the Technology Coordinator Innovator.  It means a lot to have the support of your organization especially in the field of educational technology.  As educational technologists we need to be supported as we embark upon change programs so we feel free to take calculated risks.  The Lancaster City School District has fostered a culture which enables risk taking and which seeks to constantly improve the education of each child through innovation and creativity.  This is why I enjoy working her so much.  The board of education, administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and parents support our efforts to provide a quality education to our students and values the impact technology makes upon student learning.  

We take technology innovation seriously here at Lancaster.  You can view more things we do to foster innovation at this link from our district website.

Some samples include:

Technology Innovation Grants

Innovative Technology Teacher of the Year

TechToberFest

Lancaster also received several other nominations for #BestEdTech awards.  Lancaster High School is a finalist for the best 1:1 program in the state of Ohio.  The staff at LHS has done a phenomenal job at incorporating iPads into student learning with several staff members engaging students through Project-Based Learning (PBL).  Matt Gillispie at LHS has been nominated as a Teacher Innovator.  He has been instrumental in leading the building toward the 1:1 program.  You can view a video of Matt in action at this link.  Tanya Clark-Cupp has been nominated as the Teacher Innovator as well.  This last year Tanya was named the Innovative Technology Teacher of the Year for the Lancaster City School District.  

Below is some information about the #BestEdTech Awards including the voting link.  Please consider voting for the Lancaster 1:1 program and staff for these awards.  

Voting Link

The nominations are in for the first-ever #BestEdTech Awards! All nominations were received from peers and now voting is open to help make these nominees the winner!

#OETC14 will recognize the work of schools, colleges, programs, teachers, administrators and tech coordinators from around the state through the #BestEdTech Awards. The winners will be recognized on our social media channels and the winners/representatives will receive a free day conference registration to be recognized at #OETC14 in January 2014. These awards are nominated by the Ohio education community for Ohio programs/people only, but voting will be available to anyone on our social media channels!

All nominations have been posted as they were written and submitted to us.

Voting Window: Dec. 16-Jan. 10
Winners Announced: Jan. 15

Spread the word on your social media channels and share the link! You can vote as many times as you wish!

When will I be looking for a new job?

I had a chance discussion with my superintendent today.  He gave me much more credit than I deserve for being an innovator and someone who pushes the edge of the envelope.  He told me "when you stop innovating and pushing us to do different things that is the day you should find a new job."  I really admire his approach to this and it is a key reason why I am fortunate to work in a district with a superintendent and board of education who enable risk-taking, creativity, problem-solving, and innovation.  As an educational technologist, it inspires me to work harder and think deeper about how technology can and does impact student learning.  But most importantly, the support of the board and superintendent makes it possible to put some of those ideas into action.

Of course he joked with me that sometimes my ideas are a little too far outside the box and then it is his job to tell me to rethink it or to put it on the back burner.

Hopefully I don't stop thinking of new and innovative ways to impact student learning so I am not forced to find another job anytime soon.

As an educational technologist or school leader, are you pushing the edge of the envelope?